Providing medical evaluations for possible child maltreatment to children with special health care needs

OBJECTIVE: Children with special health care needs are known to be at increased risk of all forms of child maltreatment when compared to children without such needs. We describe a health care team's experience providing medical evaluations for suspected child maltreatment to children with special health care needs. METHOD: Consecutive cases seen as outpatients in the Abuse Referral Clinic for Children with Disabilities were abstracted and analyzed. Mail and telephone follow-up contact was attempted after the medical evaluation to determine adherence with treatment recommendations. A subsample of cases for which complete financial information was available was reviewed to determine a reimbursement rate. RESULTS: During the study, 49 children received complete outpatient evaluations. Ages ranged from 3 to 16 years old, and 54% were males. Special needs spanned a wide range of physical, developmental/cognitive and behavioral conditions. The largest number of referrals came from child protective services (42%) followed by referrals from physicians (27%). After the team's comprehensive evaluation, 18% of the children were found to have a history or physical examination that was diagnostic for child maltreatment, 13% were thought to be at high risk, 25% were thought to be at low risk and 44% were thought to have non-abusive etiologies. The collection rate was 14% for an average reimbursement of $38 per case. Only 29 caregivers could be found at follow-up and 22 remembered the recommendations made by the team. Of the 25 cases that were referred for outpatient mental health counseling, 12 (48%) complied. CONCLUSION: Children with a wide range of special health care needs were evaluated in an outpatient special health care needs clinic that offered comprehensive medical evaluations for possible child maltreatment. Medical evaluation services for this group of children were poorly reimbursed. Mental health services were frequently recommended but often not accessed. Child maltreatment teams seeking to serve children with special health care needs will need to plan for service delivery to a potentially diverse group of children and families who may experience difficulty in carrying through on the team's treatment recommendations.     

Experimenting with global governance: understanding the potential for generational change

The appropriate role for the United Nations in international dispute resolution is a matter of high profile discussion and controversy. This paper begins with this ambivalence about the appropriate role for the United Nations in the world and examines several sets of issues that relate to the future of support for the UN within the US and the prospects for global governance more generally. First, we briefly review two thematic strands in previous and contemporary scholarship:(1) arguments for increased global governance in contemporary world affairs, driven by perceptions of the changing nature of the political, social, economic and military challenges in the contemporary world system. This debate is also put in the context of the relevance of public support for global governance institutions; and (2) why it is valuable to study how the current generation of adolescents perceive issues of global governance and the impact that their views may have on that nexus in the coming years. We then move to an analysis of data generated from an experimental study of American adolescents and their attitudes toward global governance.     

Identifying mentors’ observations for providing feedback

Mentors’ feedback can assist preservice teachers’ development; yet feedback tends to be variable from one mentor to the next. What do mentors observe for providing feedback? In this study, 24 mentors observed a final-year preservice teacher through a professionally video-recorded lesson and provided written notes for feedback. They observed the lesson for a second time and focused their feedback on the preservice teacher’s questioning only. Findings showed that the mentors’ written feedback varied considerably when open observations occurred. However, there were fewer items when they focused on one teaching practice (i.e. questioning), which also provided a deeper analysis of this specific practice. Research is required around the dimensions of observations (i.e. visual, auditory and conceptual), observations of specific practices, and methodological approaches for observing and collecting data about a preservice teacher’s practice.     

Let’s stop the pretence of consistent marking: exploring the multiple limitations of assessment criteria

Unreliability in marking is well documented, yet we lack studies that have investigated assessors’ detailed use of assessment criteria. This project used a form of Kelly’s repertory grid method to examine the characteristics that 24 experienced UK assessors notice in distinguishing between students’ performance in four contrasting subject disciplines: that is their implicit assessment criteria. Variation in the choice, ranking and scoring of criteria was evident. Inspection of the individual construct scores in a sub-sample of academic historians revealed five factors in the use of criteria that contribute to marking inconsistency. The results imply that, whilst more effective and social marking processes that encourage sharing of standards in institutions and disciplinary communities may help align standards, assessment decisions at this level are so complex, intuitive and tacit that variability is inevitable. We conclude that universities should be more honest with themselves and with students, and actively help students to understand that application of assessment criteria is a complex judgement and there is rarely an incontestable interpretation of their meaning.     

Identifying Mentoring Practices for Developing Effective Primary Science Teaching

A literature‐based survey gathered 331 final‐year preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring in primary science education from nine Australian universities. Data were analysed within five factors proposed for mentoring (i.e., Personal Attributes, System Requirements, Pedagogical Knowledge, Modelling, and Feedback). Results indicated that the majority of mentors (primary teachers) did not provide specific mentoring in primary science, particularly in the science teaching practices associated with the factors System Requirements, Pedagogical Knowledge, and Modelling. This study argues that mentors may require further education to learn how to mentor specifically in primary science, and proposes a specific mentoring intervention as a way forward for developing the mentor's mentoring and teaching of primary science.     

Registration at the third annual convention 1917

A Case Book in Discussion. By Frank C. and Mary B. Mckinney, with an introduction by Joseph V. Denny. New York: The Ronald Press, 1930: pp. vi, 267 ; $2.00.

Suggestions for instructors. By the same authors; 28 pp.

The Fred Newton Scott Anniversary Papers. By Former Students and Colleagues. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1929: pp. ix, 319.

Daniel Webster. By Allan L. Benson. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1929 ; pp. viii, 402.

Elements of Public Speech. By J. K. Horner. New York: D. C. Heath and Company, 1929; pp. xi, 313.

Literature for Oral Interpretation. By Eiohard Dennis Teall. Hollister. Ann Arbor, Michigan: George Wahr, 1929; pp. 752. $3.60.

Anniversaries and Holidays. By Mary Emogene Hazeltines American Library Association, 520 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 1929: pp. xx, 288.

A Practical Handbook of Play Production. By D. C. Ashton.

A Book of Dramatic Costume. By Edith Dabney and C. M. Wise. New York: F. S. Crofts and Co., 1930; pp. x, 163. $3.

Theatre Management. By Sanford E. Stanton. New York: D. Ap‐pleton and Company, 1929; pp. vii, 154; $1.50.